Thill-coupling



M. L. SOHOOH. THILL COUPLING.

No. 423,634. Patented Mar. 18, 1 90.

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WITNESSES: INVENTOH.

v A HORNE rs UNITED STATES PATENT OF ICE.

MARTIN L. SCHOOH, OF NEW BERLIN, PENNSYLVANIA,

THlLL-COUPLING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 423,634, dated March 18, 1890.

Application filed January 22, 1890. Serial No. 337,711. (No model.)

'can be easily applied to a vehicle, that, will hold the parts securely together, and by means of which the parts may be quickly and easily coupled or uncoupled.

To this end my invention consists of two forwardly-projecting lugs or ears attached to the axle-clip in the usual way and provided with a cross bolt or shaft, a slotted thill-iron having its terminal end formed into hooks to engage said cross-bolt and a raised knuckle near the end of the thill, and a peculiarlyformed key adapted to enter the slot of the thill-iron, engage the knuckle thereon, and overlap the cross-bolt, thus holding the parts together, said key being provided with a depending lever by which it may be locked in position. This construction will be hereinafter fully described, and specifically pointed out in the claims. 7 a Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a plan view of the. device applied to a thill and showing the same coupled to an axle; Fig. 2, a vertical longitudinal section of the same on the line m mof Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a cross-section on the line y y, looking in the direction of the arrows; Fig. 4, a detailed perspective View of a portion of the thill-iron, showing the knuckle and hooks thereon and the slot therein; and Fig. 5, a detailed perspective View of the key with the locking-lever attached thereto.

The axle A is provided with a clip B, which is attached thereto in the usual manner by nuts a, which are attached to the bolts 19 upon the lower ends of the clip and which project through a plate C upon the lower side of the axle. The clip B is provided with two forwardly projecting lugs D, which may be formed integrally with the clip or may be attached thereto in any suitable manner. The lugs D extend forwardly from the axle and are provided with a cross-bolt D near their outer ends, which extends from one lug to the other and which may be formed in the same piece with the lugs or maybe suitably atknuckle d near the end of the thill, which extends across the upper surface of the thi1liron, with a slot e, which extends from said knuckle to the end of the thill-iron, and at the ends is turned up to form the hooks F upon each side of the slot 6.

The hooks F are so shaped that-they will fit nicely upon the cross-bolt D and are of such a width that they will fit closely between the lugs D. The hooks F are hooked upon the cross-bolt D from the under side, and

they will fit closely between the lugs D, which will prevent them from moving laterally. The hooks are held in this position by a key H, which is of the same width as the thill-iron F, and is provided with a depending tongue H, which fits closely into the slot 8 of the thill-iron F and is of the same thickness as the thill-iron, so that when the key is in position and the tongue H is in the slot 6 the lower side of the tongue will be flush or nearly flush with the lower side of the thill-iron. The key 11 is also provided with a squared forward end, which fits closely against the knuckle d, a grooveI-I upon its rear end, which fits closely against the cross-bolt D, and upon its upper side with a rearwardlyextending tongue H which overlaps the cross-bolt D and fits closely in the slot e between the hooks F of the thill-iron, so that when the key is in position the hooks F will be held closely upon the cross-bolt D, and the curve of the hooks upon one side of the bolt and the groove 11 of the key upon the other side will form a socket around said bolt,

key H by the screw-bolt f is a lever J, which at its upper end is of the same width as the ton gu e H, to which it is attached, to enable itto pass through the slot act the thill-iron, and which is provided with a flattened and elongated upper end J, so that by turning the lever to an angle with the slot e the part J willnextend across the slot and, resting against the lower side of the thill-iron F, will hold the key firmly in position. The screw-bolt -f-is rigidly attached to the bottom of the key'H and fits a thread in the top of the lever J, so that by turning the lever it may be tightened upon the key.

To attach the shaft to the axle, the hooks F of the thill-iron F are hooked up over the cross-bolt D, the key H inserted between the bolt and the knuckle d, and the lever J turned to right angles with the thill-iron F, so that the elongated end J will extend across the.

slot e. To insert the key H, the lever J is first turned into line with the tongue H and is inserted in the slot e of the thill-iron, and the key is then crowded into place. It'will thus be seen that by simply turning the lever J the coupling will be unlocked and the key may be easily removed and the coupling parts separated.

I have shown the coupling as applied to a thill; but it is evident that itmay be applied to a tongue as well.

Having thus fully described my invention,

' I claim as new and desire to secure by Lot ters Patent- 1. A thill-coupling consisting, essentially, of two forwardly-projecting lugs connected near the ends by a cross-bolt and suitably attached to the axle, a slotted thill-iron suitably attached to a thill, and having a raised knuckle near the end of the thill, and having engage said cross-bolt, and a key adapted to fit between said cross-bolt and the knuckle of the thill-iron, said key having a depending tongue fitting the-slot of the thill-iron and a rearWardly-extending tongue overlapping said cross-bolt and entering the slot between the hooks of the thill-iron, and having suit able means for holding it in position, substantially as described.

2. A thill-coupling consisting, essentially, of two forwardly-projecting lugs suitably attached to the wagon-axle and connected near the outer ends by a cross-bolt, a slotted thilliron suitably attached to a thill, having a raised knuckle near the end of the thill, and having its slotted end formed into hooks to engage said cross-bolt, and a key adapted to fit between said cross-bolt and the knuckle of the thill-iron, said .key having a depending tongue to fitthe slot in the thill-iron and a rearwardly-extending tongue overlapping said cross-bolt and entering the slot between the hooks of the thill-iron, and having a lever attached to the lower side of said depending tongue, which may be turned to extend across the under side-of the thill-iron and lock the key, substantially as described.

3. In a thill-c-ouplin g, the combination, with the lugs D, having the bolt D attached thereto, and the thill-iron F, having the raised knuckle d, slot 6, and terminal hook F, adapted to engagethe bolt D, ofthe key H, adapted to fit between the bolt D and knuckle (1, having a depending tongue H to fit the slot 6 of the thill-iron, a rearwardly-extending tongue H,

to overlap the bolt D and fit between the ends of the hooks F, and means, as depend- 'Witnesses:

J. D. WINTER, S. A. OoRL. Y 

